Nobody can specialise in all religions but nobody has to.
Just see what they have in common - eg regard for faith or magic or the
supernatural and dodgy morals and dwell on that. Faith in a God of some
sort is the ultimate idol for faith is not God.

What is idolatry?
Idolatry is the worship of false gods. It involves the worship of Gods that do
not exist. If a person thinks a god is in his statue and worships the god that
person is an idolater. Nobody worships statues just because they are statues but
because they are thought to be representations of the God or the god is thought
to live in the statue. It is the God not existing that is the problem.

What is best way to detect it?

False claims, false religions, false gods and false
scriptures do not want to be checked out or examined. Nothing willingly invites
questioning but the truth. An idol will avoid being checked simply because
it is fake.

Why is idolatry wrong?
Idolatry is wrong not because it is the worship of an idol but because it is
degrading. Atheist find it offensive that a wafer is regarded as more important
than a human being. The worship of pagan idols of gods who were very human and
had failings is not as idolatrous as the idol of Catholicism which is supposed
to be almighty and perfect.

Does false religion mean fake religion or untrue
religion? Both even?

A fake religion to be clear means one that is not a
religion but says it is. A false one is just lies - if the errors are
plain and people see that then they become liars if they still uphold the
errors.

What is the motive for idolatrous worship?
To feel safe and protected by the false God. Thus to carry a charm is the same
thing as to bow before an image of a false God.

What does that tell us?
That if people really are protected by what they worship and have exceptional
safety statistics then they are not idolaters. If they are no better or worse
off than an atheist then they are idolaters.

Why should we be always under suspicion of idolatry?
We tend to be grateful to things when they benefit us. We feel a sense of
gratitude towards the car that gets us to hospital. We kick and curse the car
and swear at it when it breaks down. We treat events and things as if they
consciously bless us and curse us. It is no wonder then we so easily and too
easily believe in God and pray to God. Our motivation is suspect - we are
probably idolaters nearly all the time anyway.

What is a good test for idolatry?
Being let down. If you are overly attached to your car, for example, and it lets
you down in time of trouble then its an idol. Even God lets you down for even
the best saint can suffer crippling depression and a horrible end. It is an
insult to them to pretend that God is letting them suffer for a purpose.
Idolaters use that excuse for their false gods.

What is the only thing that can never let you down?
Belief in belief. This too is idolatry because it is belief in our own power not
in God.

Is all prayer idolatry?

Belief in prayer is made infallible. There is more
infallibility in putting your proposition outside of examination than simply
saying, “This is true because I say so.” It becomes, “This is true because I say
there is no way to refute it.” Prayer is an idol. Even if there is a God, God
cannot accept it. Prayer paradoxically is anti-God and is an idol. It
disrespects truth for you try to avoid refutation so prayer is a lie and thus
seems to think that God and everybody else is stupid and cannot see it.

Does the Atheist regard all religious worship as idolatry?
Yes - if there is no God Christians are idolaters for they worship what does not
exist.

Even if there is a God is he worshipped by his people?
They worship their perception and image of him not him. They are idolaters.
Idolatry is bad for it is giving things the respect due to people. When you
honour an idol you neglect to honour your neighbour. Serve your neighbour not a
God you have made up in your head.

Why else is the worship of God idolatry?
Because believers say that worshipping a created being that is perfect in the
sense of being as good as he can be should not be worshipped. Only an uncreated
all-good being should be worshipped. This means there is more concern for the
divinity's power than for his goodness.

But their perception and image of God is right and so they worship the real God?
Immaterial! Irrelevant! Right or wrong it is still their perception they
worship. It is only by chance if they are right. Even believers in a version of
God that cannot possibly be right still think they are right.

Is the worship of God the worship of the inventors of God?
Yes. To worship somebody's idea is really to worship that person for the person
that makes the idea is necessarily better and more important than the idea
itself. If you worship your perception of God that is not the same as
worshipping God. It is worshipping part of yourself for your perception is part
of you. And so it is with worshipping other people's perception of God.

Why is it dangerous to create a God to fit your needs?
Because deep down you know he is your own creation. You will feel anger and hate
towards anybody that is able to expose the charade. It causes people to
violently suppress those who contradict their "faith".

If God is spiritual and immaterial how can you find him?
By seeing the goodness in your heart as signs of his presence and activity. If
you do that you don't need outward things such as religion, miracles or statues
or rituals. They are idolatrous.

How can honouring a statue of God be idolatrous if you mean the honour to go to
God?
If it is true that the pagans only viewed idols and the sun and the moon not as
gods but as symbols of God then this way of honouring God is idolatry. It is
only superficially honouring God. He is in fact dishonoured.

What if spirituality or Christianity is a relationship with God and not a
religion?
That argument is nonsense for you can have a relationship with a religious
structure made up by people, with rules and with rites and with doctrines. A
religion is a kind of relationship.

What does the notion that greed for money (is idolatrous (Col 3:5,6) tell us?
That greed is greed. Greed for God must be idolatry too. Jesus told us that God
is all we really have and to love him as if he is - ie give all the love in us
to him only. That is idolatry. It is hypocrisy of Christians to deny all this.

What does the Bible say about man's religious commands?

Jesus condemned them as rubbish. ‘I do not
nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then
Christ died for nothing’ (Gal 2:21 NAB) implies that if you try to earn favour
with God by keeping his law that insults Christ’s death. Imagine if you try to
earn favour with God by using a man-made religious law!

What do we conclude?
All God-worship is idolatry.

APPENDIX

Theologian Paul Tillich argued that if you put forward and idea or person and
make them beyond criticism they become idols.

This is bad because you would not try to silence criticism unless you feared or
suspected the idea or person was in fact flawed or nonsense. The more you
protect it the more you sense that it is rubbish.

This is bad because it deprives God of the chance to
teach you.

This is bad because it deprives others of the chance to
teach you.

This is bad because if person a has an idol and person b
has another one conflict will result for both of them ban any critical inquiry.

Idolatry is when you worship a thing as God instead of
God or when you give something worship it does not deserve. It is more about
worshipping a perception of God that a really worthy God will object to. It
involves the worship of something that is not true goodness. It need not be
evil. It could be amoral. It could be too human. Idolaters are usually thought
of as statue-worshippers but in fact they use images to worship unworthy deities
so they don't have to actually think the images are their gods. Both idolaters
and those who adore the "true God" want to ally with power and worship it. In
fact, the worshippers of God are the worst idolaters. Idolatry is evil because
it misses the point of God: infinite perfection that demands total perfection in
love and goodness from us. It is more interested in what God has to offer than
in God. Even if there is no God this is not good. You are still nurturing
badness inside.

If our own sinfulness demonstrates our incapacity to judge rightly then that
means we will often put forward bad as good. We will do that with God too.

If there is no God, then there is no legitimate authority that preaches and acts
in his name or which got authority from him. If there is no God, then there is
no way man can ground a definition of God. Do not give man power by honouring
his ideas about God for it is man that will benefit from it not God.